Black Diamond Sprinter

Here are my first impressions on my new Black Diamond Sprinter headlamp. I have not had this headlamp for very long and only have a few miles on it so far, but it seems to be a great headlamp for general running and really excels at urban and rural nightime running.
First off the pros:
-The design makes for a well balanced headlamp, with the battery in the back and the light in the front. This allows the bulb unit to stay in place very well with no bounce. I have found that excessive bouncing can cause a little nausea, not the case with the Sprinter.
-The unit is rechargeable, this is also a con, but it does free me from finding batteries at the last minute. It also does not cause more batteries in the landfill.
-The pattern (non-adjustable) is wide and bright. it does not spot well, but gives a nice field of view without having to turn your head to see an obstacle. Perfect for running, although on a long technical trail I could see a desire for more light.
-The sprinter has a red blinking light on the back, which is good for running on roads, that can be turned off for trail use or when running with others.

Cons:
-The rechargeable battery makes it not suitable for backpacking or overnight use as it cannot be recharged on the fly. For most people, this won't be a big deal, as is the case with me.
-The sprinter does not have a spot setting or bulb. This is fine for most use as the light is bright and well spread, but in the wilderness a good spot is greatly appreciated when needed. On a trail that is known, I think the sprinter will be more than sufficient.

All in all I think the Black Diamond Sprinter is an excellent headlamp for running, maybe the best on the market for most nightime runners. It does have a couple of shortcomings, but there are other headlamps designed to fit those needs, such as the Black Diamond Icon. For what the Sprinter is designed for, it nears perfection. I would definitely recommend the Sprinter to anyone looking for a running headlamp.

And thanks goes to Wilderness Running Company for the sale that brought this fine headlamp to me.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Week 5 of school & miderm

This week was midterm week in my cooking class. This was my first timed event in culinary school. Although everything you do in a restaurant is a timed event, so it didn't seem like that big of a deal to be timed. I did well, everything was pass/fail. As long as we did the process correctly and the taste was close we passed. Fundamentals is more about process and techniques than taste and appearance. I made all of the hollandaise sauce last week for our family dinner, about 70 people, and was over confident in my ability to make hollandaise for the midterm. This, of course, resulted in me messing up the hollandaise during the midterm, luckily I had plenty of time to make another and do it correctly. Another lesson learned. It seems that half of my lessons learned in school aren't culinary, but character. I guess that means I am getting my money's worth.

On the good side, tuesday I made ratatouille and the chef told me how great my ratatouille was a few times. He's not the kind of guy that tells you things like that to be nice. It's good to complements from people like that. I told Megan about that and I have somehow become volunteered to make ratatouille for church on monday night. hmm.... I wonder how that happened?

On the running and outdoor side of life, I won't be able to do the 8k trail race I had planned for saturday since I couldn't find a babysitter saturday morning. big bummer, back to training. on the plus side, I may be going on a trip to the grand canyon the first week of april with my bro eugene. we are discussing doing a R2R2R (south rim to north rim and back to south rim) in a day. I think that's about 42 miles and would probably take anywhere from 16-20 hours for me to do. We may split it up into a few days so that we can enjoy more scenery, but either way should be a lot of fun. I am really looking forward to this one. I think its back to training time for me, just as the weather gets cold. and on the cold weather note, i am looking for some lightweight running pants, been eyeing the patagonia cool weather tights.

I think that's about it for now, Nova wants to watch some Dora the Explorer. which, by the way, does NOT rhyme.